Roll With It

Rock 'N' Roll

Dense, Complex Drama On Czech History Offers A Thought-provoking Evening.

September 17, 2009|By Bill Hirschman Special Correspondent

It's a safe bet there weren't 20 people in the opening night crowd at Mosaic Theatre's production of Rock 'N' Roll who understood half of what was going on.

But that's no surprise since this is a titanium-dense Tom Stoppard play about the unlikely intersection of idealism, disillusionment, political science, classical Greek literature, pop culture, art, freedom of speech, the failure of Communism - brilliant intellectual discussions racing past too fast to understand.

You'll have an entertaining and thought-provoking evening if you don't fret that you're not keeping up with the tidal wave. Just savor some solid performances, the witty wordplay and cerebral acrobatics. And do read the cheat sheet inside the program identifying political figures and laying out the chronology of Czech history before the show starts.

The pretzel of a plot follows a young Czechoslovakian student (Antonio Amadeo) who leaves his studies at Cambridge with a steadfast Marxist professor (Gordon McConnell). He wants to return to his homeland in 1968 just as new reforms promise a chance to build a better society. Almost immediately, the Russians invade. Over the next 22 years, we watch the hopeful Communist experiment turn into a totalitarian nightmare.

It is an Everest of a play and Mosaic's skilled team here under the direction of Richard Jay Simon has mounted a brave expedition.

Almost all of the cast members in this highly-skilled troupe are unable to break down the unending complexity of the material so that every moment is comprehensible. Not surprisingly, the most effective moments are the most accessible ones when the characters' intellect is eclipsed by familiar emotions of joy and frustration, such as the anger of the professor's wife (well-played by Laura Turnbull) who needs emotional support from her husband as she battles cancer.

Perhaps it's like Hamlet - you can't take it all in one sitting; the joys are mulling it over after the show and unearthing nuances or resonances in repeated viewings over the years.